Security Firm Is Sued Over Hiring Bias

December 02, 1997|By Cornelia Grumman, Tribune Staff Writer.

Borrowing a method used to root out housing discrimination, a non-profit legal group Monday filed a federal lawsuit against a Chicago security firm alleging hiring discrimination against two African-American applicants.

The action utilizes a new investigative strategy--sending fake applicants, or "testers," to apply for job openings--that may soon be adopted by federal employment authorities.

Tackling an area of employment discrimination that traditionally has been tough to identify or prove--less than 8 percent of complaints nationwide have to do with hiring--the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago hopes to set a precedent with its use of job applicant testers to ferret out prejudice.

The foundation hired two pairs of testers, black and white job applicants, to respond to an advertised receptionist position at Guardian Security Services Inc. The firm is run by a handful of former Chicago police officers. It once supplied security guards to the Chicago Housing Authority.

The resumes of the black testers read like an employer's dream for the open receptionist's job: Both were proficient typists, knew how to work spreadsheets and had secretarial experience working with multiple phone lines. But both African-American women were strung along for weeks by company brass, the lawsuit alleges, while the two less-qualified white testers who applied were given interviews and offers within days. The black testers couldn't even get a typing test after their first face-to-face interviews.

Guardian Security officials could not be reached Monday.

LeeAnn Lodder, manager of the Legal Assistance Foundation's employment discrimination project, said it is crucial to draw attention to racial discrimination in hiring, particularly at a time when many people are struggling to move off welfare and into entry-level jobs.

"We want to look at access to the job market for our typical clients," Lodder said. "Usually applicants don't know that they're being discriminated against because they don't know who else was interviewing and who else got the job. We use these testers to stand in for the real applicant."

Since the project started in 1991, foundation staffers have mailed "identifiably African-American resumes" to 600 Chicago area employers who advertised entry-level positions in local newspapers. Of those businesses, Lodder said, 41 percent who responded called the white or Hispanic candidate, but did not call the better-qualified black candidate.

Of the 300 businesses that testers actually visited, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges and federal lawsuits have been filed against a dozen.

In the coming months, Lodder said the foundation plans to file federal discrimination charges against another handful of companies--including a surgical center, car dealerships and an airline-related company.